This invention relates generally to the processing of poultry and more particularly to the removal of the neck, windpipe and esophagus from the poultry carcass.
In the processing of poultry, it is typical to remove the neck from the poultry carcass. Subsequently the windpipe or trachea or gullet along with the crop and esophagus are removed from the poultry carcass for disposal. Machines have been developed to break the necks of the poultry during the processing operation. In these machines, the neck is broken at its junction with the body. This also serves to cut an opening in the neck skin of the poultry but leaves that portion of the neck skin on the front of the neck where the windpipe and esophagus are located intact so that the neck is held onto the poultry carcass through this unsevered piece of neck skin. This neck breaking operation does not sever the windpipe or esophagus so that they remain attached to the poultry carcass and pass under the neck skin.
While the neck breaking operation has been relatively successful, the mechanization of the removal of the neck and the separate removal of the windpipe and esophagus has not met with similar success. This is because prior art machines have had difficulty in keeping the windpipe and esophagus with the body of the poultry carcass while the already broken neck was pulled from the carcass. As a result, machines which sought to mechanically and separately remove the broken necks and the windpipe and esophagus from the poultry carcasses have not met with commercial success.